


Habits that I Adore about You

by deerthug



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29287929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deerthug/pseuds/deerthug
Summary: Taeyong is a neat-freak, Jaehyun is the only one who understands.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	Habits that I Adore about You

Maybe Jaehyun is too aloof to claim this, because he didn't say it, Yuta did, even when it's out of spite, but there's something in the way Lee Taeyong wake up first in the morning. There's something in the way he sighs and yawns while struggling to switch the lights off, there's something in the way he brews his coffee and the way he splashes water to regain his conscious. It used to be just ‘Taeyong Being Neurotic Early In The Morning’ and he had never really cared about it since the leader wakes up earlier than him anyway. But it's still Taeyong, still being neurotic early in the morning, fussing around the dorm like a mother of little children needing care even though none of them aren't little anymore.

Lately, Jaehyun have been catching some of his little habits, the ones that he could not fully understand, the ones that makes him, him.

Taeyong wakes up earlier than everyone else in the dorm, tidies his bed and folds his blanket neatly; sometimes he would redo it for 3 or 4 times, probably when he thinks it's not neat enough for his liking. At first Jaehyun was baffled, like, is this guy not tired enough from all the schedule? Why is he already up? Don't he want to sleep in? Taeyong is a big living question mark.

The leader sweeps the floor and cleans their dorm straight after he got up in the morning and made his bed. He makes sure there are no trash left behind, no dust by the corner, no cola stains by the glass table of the living room, everything a healthy 23 year old man wouldn't even think about right after opening his eyes by 6 am.

Sometimes Jaehyun would get up to the white noise of his vacuuming outside of his room, silently and softly like he dares not to disturb anyone that are still asleep. Each and every time he reveals himself to Taeyong, the latter would jump out of surprise and nervously ask him, “did I wake you up?” And Jaehyun would always answer “no you didn't” even when he actually did, because in some way he did not understand, Taeyong would give him his little pleased smile if he says that instead of telling the truth, as if he's proud of not waking his members up.

Jaehyun doesn't get it. Isn't he the leader? Shouldn't he want his members to be up early? Taeyong is a still a big living question mark.

Even the others can never understand him, the way that he does and the way that he is. Yuta said in one evening that Taeyong was the weirdest one out of a group of 18 person. It was football night and Jungwoo was over to watch, they were curled up on the couch that Taeyong made, complete with icy cola and spicy instant ramen that's too cold to be eaten by someone sane. Jaehyun did the dishes, Taeyong personally asked him to because he was going to get groceries. Jaehyun did the dishes and eavesdropped.

“Taeyong needs to chill sometimes,” Yuta started, eyes fixated on some Chelsea player running and getting his ball, “you know the way he worries is too much, right?”

Jungwoo looked back into Yuta, scandalized as if it's the first time he's heard someone shit talking someone else behind their back. “What's wrong? He's okay to me, I guess.”

Yuta laughed, somehow in a manner too antagonistic for an eavesdropping Jaehyun to not feel his gut coiling in annoyance. “That's because you don't live with him. He acts like my mom —too much of my mom, you know? I mean, I would understand if it's an actual mother scolding me for not tidying my bed, which I used,” he sneered, glancing at Jungwoo beside him listening intently to his explanation, “but it's Taeyong. We're about the same age, and yet he acts like he's the only one responsible for everything in this dorm. There's something in the way he does things that makes him annoying, you know?”

Jaehyun couldn't even disagree, but he hated it, he hated that he couldn't spit right there and defend the elder that was unknowing of the convos going on behind his dear back. And poor Taeyong has never said a word about anyone, but yet that was the response others give back to his purity. It grew him angry, the way that Yuta was right, the way that he couldn't deny it right there.

When the anger seeps in and dissolves, it was when he does realize that all in all, Yuta was still honestly right.

There's something in the way Taeyong does what he does. He figured when Donghyuck wanted the room all to himself, and Johnny willingly stayed in the other house for a couple of days to accomodate the youngest' spoiled request. Jaehyun slept in Johnny's place, next to a stupidly tidy Taeyong even when he's vast asleep.

It's weird, but that's what makes him, him. The weird antics and how he's so much of a clean-freak to be considered healthy anymore, it's all so... him, so Lee Taeyong in the rawest way possible. The way he tiptoes in the morning to get out of the room when he thinks Jaehyun is still asleep, the way he's so careful to not let a single dart of light from the outside enter the dark bedroom. He gets it, he gets how Yuta could think that it's annoying, belittling, and in some way it maybe probably is. Maybe Taeyong doesn't trust his members enough to be natural like the rest of the other men would be. But that's not... Taeyong.

In the middle of the night, some day after his radio show ended and Jaehyun was about to fall into bed, Taeyong grabbed his sleeves. He asked him to stay out of the bedroom first before he's done his night cleaning, whatever dirt is there to make him uncomfortable. Jaehyun could lash out right there, he could say "no, I am tired and I want to sleep." But he didn't, because all in all, it's just Taeyong, being Taeyong. And maybe right then he finally gets it too how the leader is always so pleased with his white lies. Maybe it takes him two or three sins written in the Book to lie, but if it makes Taeyong happy that he could finally be himself then so be it.

Jaehyun is always more than happy to understand, especially those who are too complex of people like his dear leader. And truthfully, he finds it more endearing than anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a short I wrote back in 2018. I kept it in my drafts for so long that I feel guilty now (yes, now, 3 years later) that I've never let this baby see the light of day. It's really short though. I just hope readers enjoyed this little one. Thank you for reading! <3
> 
> Ps: IM SORRY YUTA I DIDNT MEAN TO MAKE YOU LOOK MEAN I SWEAR


End file.
